Funding idea I had

[Andrew]

I had this idea that I wanted to get some feedback on. Basically it's a way of kick starting a company that produces open source games / art via donations made by monthly subscribers.

How it would work is people would subscribe amount X every month and in return they get access to the source code, binaries, private forums and possibly private servers if the game is multi-player. Subscribers would be able to vote on what should take priority and what kind of game should be made from a list of different ideas pitched. Code and artwork would be released as public domain from which the subscribers could do what they wanted with.

I'm kind of wondering if it's viable and if people would subscribe money every month to fund development. For it to cover my expenses to work full time it would need to make around $1100 every month. So if everyone paid $10 it would need 110 people subscribing every month at a minimum. When it makes more money it can go into hiring more people and anything left over would go into a pot for contract jobs or one off pieces of art.

[TheAncientGoat]

Well, it brings up the oft debated question of "is the source still open if you have to pay to access it". It definitely isn't if you restrict the subscribers from forking the said projects outside of the subscription fence.

Regarding the feasibility, you aren't going to get a 110 people to support you unless there is something really "wow" to be had, and getting to that point in development will take long. I don't think there is any open source game that would be able to field that level of subscription at the moment, nor do I think the open source community would appreciate the project either...

[Andrew]

Why would you restrict the subscribers from forking? The code and artwork would be public domain, they can do what they want with it.

[Modplan Man]

You should talk to the guy behind Avaneya, who is already working on a project similar to this:

https://www.avaneya.com/

You can see the thread on the game in the Ubuntu forums:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1454613

Along with a discussion I had with him along these lines in the "Ideas to Fund & Promote FOSS games" thread again at Ubuntu forums:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1442535

[rogerdv]

Do you want to help OSS games? Then donate directly to the project. Create fund raising campaing, one different each month, for different projects. Thus, each one can use the money in what they need the most. In my case, I would definitely invest in hardware upgrades.

[xahodo]

Why not make a simple website where users can post a game idea, along with a deadline when coding needs to get started on the game. Now, in order to protect the ideas from hijacking, the ideas are hidden behind a registration wall (registration is free).

Now, here's the interesting part: users can comment and fund an idea. When the idea doesn't meet the required funds in order to get development going, the funds are returned. If development does get going, the person(s) doing the development work (this also includes artists) get the money from the site.

When somebody picks up an idea for development, they agree to release all art and code with an OSI approved license once they're done. In return they receive all funds collected for the project.

This allows for refinement of ideas and shows which idea is most popular.

[MCMic]

Why not make a simple website where users can post a game idea, along with a deadline when coding needs to get started on the game. Now, in order to protect the ideas from hijacking, the ideas are hidden behind a registration wall (registration is free).

Now, here's the interesting part: users can comment and fund an idea. When the idea doesn't meet the required funds in order to get development going, the funds are returned. If development does get going, the person(s) doing the development work (this also includes artists) get the money from the site.

When somebody picks up an idea for development, they agree to release all art and code with an OSI approved license once they're done. In return they receive all funds collected for the project.

This allows for refinement of ideas and shows which idea is most popular.

This has been done by elveos, but they are stopping activity as they are coders and are not interested in maintaining a website.
http://elveos.org

[Jastiv]

The fsf has members only forums. I know that's far from the only benefit of membership. (free libre planet admission (although travel there is not free), discount on fsf store items, newsletter sent out and usb key (you can opt out if you don't want it) Anyway, I'm not a member for the perks, I'm a member because I believe that free software is important. (but the perks are nice, and I have used most of them)
So, yes, it is very possible to have members only forums while making all the source code and assets free software/culture.